Headline Act: Cober Mouth

New single out now? Check. New EP dropping not soon enough? Check. Now find out more about the band behind “Beneath The Hydrogen”…

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

We grew up in Cornwall but we’re currently based in Bristol. People call us the Cornish-Bristolians.

How did you meet?

Lewis, Dylan and myself attended Helston Community College together in Cornwall, and in 2014 Dylan and I drafted Lewis into our first project together, Black Leaves of Envy. Growing up in the most southernly town in the UK, our access to the wider musical world was limited. Nonetheless, we immersed ourselves in the local music scene we had access to, seeking to get involved with regular events.

How long have you been playing as a band?

Cober Mouth has been an idea since 2019, but we’ve only been active in the scene since July 2023.

Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?

Whilst cycling through several names, including a Knocked Loose reference “God Falls Silent”, Cober Mouth eventually stood as the uncontested candidate – a reference to the mouth of the River Cober, a river that flows beneath the town where we grew up and into the sea nearby.

What are your influences?

Hugely diverse – mainly Slipknot, Architects, Northlane, Knocked Loose and Thrown, however you can hear within our music that we listen to artists like Incubus, Biffy Clyro, Ocean Wisdom, Humanity’s Last Breath and Bilmuri.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

We’ve developed a very unique way of reacting to each other’s ideas and thoughts on music over 10 years, and that shines through in our music. We write often on gut feeling alone, which ensures we aren’t methodically copying ideas in some surgical writing style.

Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

I write a lot about things I feel carry weight in my own life, very little about social, political or economic issues. This links to what I previously said about navigating song writing with gut feeling – I think of phrases, paradoxes within contextual themes and use word play to disguise what I’m saying. Cloaking myself in metaphors allows me to hide meanings from people I wish to and share something more powerful and revealing with those that I do.

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What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

As friends, we’re probably well on the road to 100. As Cober Mouth, it’s still around 10 – we stopped counting after about 6 – 7 gigs for each band we’ve been in.

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

I’ve seen people have their limbs broken – play nice kids, we all love a good mosh, but nobody wants to end up with a flamingo leg.

What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?

I could fill a few sheets of A4 paper with all the kit that keeps Cober Mouth running, but I’ll just share the highlights. We ditched the idea of using physical guitar amp systems with Cober Mouth – all our guitars now run through Neural DSP Gojira VST, and our bass through the Neural DSP Darkglass VST. We’ve saved thousands of pounds in equipment costs and our live tone is still killer!

All samples and string instruments run through a touch screen PC/Scarlett Interface combo that lives in a flight case permanently.

Guitars we use a mix of Ibanez, Squier, Solar, Jackson and Cort. Our drummer Dylan uses Pearl, Meinl, Yamaha, Zildjan, Vic Firth, ProMark.

What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?

Our new single “Beneath The Hydrogen” is out now, with an EP Untethered following on 06/09/2024.

What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?

We hope to find a booking agent or manager with a good pedigree that can help us get our music to more people! We love playing live shows and want to do more of it.

If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!

Personally I’d love to support Thrown – they are just straight badass stonk music. For an opening band I’d pick Apathy UK – feels a bit cheeky as I think they’re better than us, but they’re an underground band that need the spotlight!

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Header image: A Life Well Productions

If you want to check out more new music, then fire up our Headline Act playlists on Spotify and YouTube!

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